Truss



C. VERNIAUD.

TRUSS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 19, x920.

Patenfped Nov. 30, 1920.

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Vw Gum M450 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUDIUS VERNIAUD, OF QUINCY, ILLIN01S.-

[0 aZl wlmm it may concern."

Be it known that I, CLAUDIUS VnnNiaUn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Quincy, in the county of Adams and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inTrusses; and I do declarethe following to be a, ran; clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art' to which itappertains to make anduse the same.

This invention relates to improvements in trusses. The principallobjectofthe invention is to provide a truss which is of suchconstructionthatit will" exert an equal pressure against the rupture at all timesregardless of the various novements' of the' p'atients body,thereby'insuring' that the hernia or rupture win'be retainedinthep'rop'er position with'outl'iahility of any injurious eflects' fromits constant use whether sleeping or not; \w j r Aln'other object of theinvention isto provide a truss which is simple in construction,

inexpensive to manufacture, yet highly chi clent in use, one whlchwillconform to the shape of the b'ody j with which it is designed tocontact, andon'e in which the body'engaging pads may" be adjusted tocomfortably fit people oi various sizesiand' builds.

Other objects" and advantages of the invent'ionwill become apparentduring the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings'forming a part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout thesame; I

Figure lis an 'el'evatioifol a truss constructed in accordance with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View on the plane of the line 33 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the pad supporting springs.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown apreferred form of my invention, the'numeral 1 designates a substantiallyresilient, but normally stationary strip of metal provided at itsopposite ends with apertures 2. Connected in any suitable manner to thestrip 1 adjacent one end thereof is an arcuate spring strip 3, and

TRUSS.

ner shown. These springs serve to carry a pair of wooden body engagingpads In many instances the truss will not fit some people, so, in ordertoimake it efiicient in every way, I make the pads 5 adjustable. To thisend, I provide each of the strips 3 and 4 adjacent its free end with aseries of longitudinally disposed holes (5, and, as I retain the pads inposition by means of screws 7, which pass through these holes, I amenabled to Specificationof Letters Patent. 'lPLijQl'l'fiQdNOf. 39;1920;Ap plication filed January 19,1920.' Serial No. 352,376.

place them in positions corresponding to.

any one of the holes 6 to obtain the proper adjustment-and permiteffective use of the device by people of various sizes and builds. Byshaping and arranging the springs in the manner set forth, it will beseen fthat their point of fulcrum will change from time to.

time according .to'the amount of pressure.

to which they are subjected. Inother words,

when the belt 8 is drawntight the tension of these springs will' begreater and whenit is slack, the tension is less, so it will be seenthat the pressure with which the pads bear against the rupture may beregulated to suit the patient by loosening or tighteningthe belt; Idesire to lay emphasis on the construction and arrangement of thesprings 3 and et, because they exert an equalfpressure on the pads 5,which in turn bear with an eq'ual'pressure against the rupture orhernia. Because of the equal pressure acquired by this arrangement, thetruss. may be \VOllI at all times, regardless of themany twists andturns oi?" the body during sleep or at other times, and there will benone but beneficial results obtained'from its constant use. In a priorPatent No. 528,04L6 granted to me on Oct. 23-, 1894;, I discloseatrusshavingsome similarity to the present one; however, the latter islightcr,less expensive, a great deal more comfortable, the pads arelongitudinally adjustable, and the pressure which they provide is alwaysequal, so that none but the best andmost beneficial results will beestablished- The retaining belt 8 has quickdetachable connection at itsopposite ends with the angularly adjustable arms 9, each of whichcarries a headed stud 10 with which the keyhole-openings of the plates11 have ivotal and detachable connections. The arms9 are interposedbetween the spring strip 1 and the metal disks 12. To retain these partstogether I employ small fasten ing bolts 16 each of which passes throughthe apertures 2 in the spring 1, through the apertured arms 9, disks 12and 13, and the leather stiffeningmember 1 1 which is disposed betweenthe disks 12 and 13 and serves as a guard to protect the clothing andalso increases the attractiveness of the truss.

In use, I also desire to employ understraps similar to those disclosedin the aforesaid patent, so, I provide short straps 15 which carrybuckles, to which one of the ends of the understraps may be connected,while the other ends maybe connected to the belt 8, in any manner, suchas for instance by the device shown in any patented device. In use theunderstraps will be connected to the straps 15 which may then be bentdown in front of the stiffening piece 1 1, brought rearward between thelegs and secured to the portion of the belt which passes across the backof the user.

Particular emphasis is to be laid on the fact that the constructionwhich I employ is entirely novel in that all the parts, 1, 9, 12, 13,and 1 1 are secured together by two fastening bolts 16. Thisconstruction is compact, strong, neat, and useful, in that these boltsnot only serve as retaining bolts for the aforesaid parts, but they alsoserve as the means for retaining the arms 9 in various adjustedpositions.

Proceeding to describe the feature of the arms 9, it is to be said thatthe pressure of the pads may be regulated by their use. To accomplishthis, it is only necessary to loosen the nuts 17, whereupon these armsmay be angled with respect to the spring strip 1, thus drawing the belthigher or lower from the center line and making it tighter or looseningit according to the movement of the arms, thereby bringing more or lesspressure on the rupture. The nuts 17 may then be tightened and the trussplaced in use. The above set forth feature will be found advantageousbecause it will permit the tension of the springs 3 and 4 to beeffectively and quickly regulated, as is ob vious. I a

The manner of using, regulating and attaching my truss is thought to beobvious from the foregoing description, therefore description along thisline is deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred form of the same, and thatvarious minor changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A truss comprising a substantially arcuate fiat spring, a secondarcuate spring having one of its ends rigidly secured thereto adjacentone end of the latter, its free end being provided with a longitudinalseries of alined holes, a third arcuate fiat spring of a length lessthanthe second named spring, one end thereof being rigidly secured to thesecond spring adjacent the innermost hole in the latter, the free end ofsaid third spring being also provided with a longitudinal series ofholes, and a pair of body engaging pads longitudinally shiftable on thesecond and third named springs, and fastening screws for the pads, saidscrews being adapted to be inserted through the aforesaid holes.

2. A truss comprising a plurality of metal disks, a stiffening memberdisposed between the disks, a spring metal strip, a pair of angularlyadjustable arms, each arm being interposed between one of the disks andthe strip, bolts passing through the strip, arms, metal disks, andstiffening member, serving to retain these parts together and to retainsaid arms in various adjusted positions, the arms being provided attheir free ends with lateral studs with which the ends of the belt havepivotal connection, and spring supported body engaging pads carried bythe metal strip.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CLAUDIUS VERNIAUD.

